arXiv subjects

Loet Leydesdorff

Publications and source records attributed to Loet Leydesdorff.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Technological Developments and Factor Substitution in a Complex and Dynamic System

Schumpeter's (1939) distinction between changes in the form of the production function corresponding to innovation, and shifts along the production function corresponding to factor substitution, does not preclude that the underlying dynamics interact. In an evolutionarily complex system, such interactions are expected: they lead to non-linear terms in the model, and therefore to stabilization and self-organization in addition to selection and variation. Relatively simple simulations enable us to specify various concepts used in 'evolutionary economics' in terms of non-linear dynamics. While a technological trajectory can be considered as a stabilization in a (distributed) environment, a technological regime can be defined as a next-higher-order globalization in a hyper-space. A regime is able to restore its order despite local disturbances, for example by the political system. Technology policies may be effective at the level of the (sub-)systems if they provide the relevant agents with room for 'creative destruction' of the globalized hyper-systems. Implications for firm behaviour and innovation policies are elaborated.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2010

Distributed scientific communication in the European information society: Some cases of "Mode 2" fields of research

Can self-organization of scientific communication be specified by using literature-based indicators? In this study, we explore this question by applying entropy measures to typical "Mode-2" fields of knowledge production. We hypothesized these scientific systems to be developing from a self-organization of the interaction between cognitive and institutional levels: European subsidized research programs aim at creating an institutional network, while a cognitive reorganization is continuously ongoing at the scientific field level. The results indicate that the European system develops towards a stable level of distribution of cited references and title-words among the European member states. We suggested that this distribution could be a property of the emerging European system. In order to measure to degree of specialization with respect to the respective distributions of countries, cited references and title words, the mutual information among the three frequency distributions was calculated. The so-called transmission values informed us that the European system shows increasing levels of differentiation.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2010

Redundancy in Systems which Entertain a Model of Themselves: Interaction Information and the Self-organization of Anticipation

Mutual information among three or more dimensions (mu-star = - Q) has been considered as interaction information. However, Krippendorff (2009a, 2009b) has shown that this measure cannot be interpreted as a unique property of the interactions and has proposed an alternative measure of interaction information based on iterative approximation of maximum entropies. Q can then be considered as a measure of the difference between interaction information and redundancy generated in a model entertained by an observer. I argue that this provides us with a measure of the imprint of a second-order observing system -- a model entertained by the system itself -- on the underlying information processing. The second-order system communicates meaning hyper-incursively; an observation instantiates this meaning-processing within the information processing. The net results may add to or reduce the prevailing uncertainty. The model is tested empirically for the case where textual organization can be expected to contain intellectual organization in terms of distributions of title words, author names, and cited references.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2009

Science overlay maps: a new tool for research policy and library management

We present a novel approach to visually locate bodies of research within the sciences, both at each moment of time and dynamically. This article describes how this approach fits with other efforts to locally and globally map scientific outputs. We then show how these science overlay maps help benchmark, explore collaborations, and track temporal changes, using examples of universities, corporations, funding agencies, and research topics. We address conditions of application, with their advantages, downsides and limitations. Overlay maps especially help investigate the increasing number of scientific developments and organisations that do not fit within traditional disciplinary categories. We make these tools accessible to help researchers explore the ongoing socio-cognitive transformation of science and technology systems.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2009

Maps on the basis of the Arts & Humanities Citation Index: The journals Leonardo and Art Journal versus "Digital Humanities" as a topic

The possibilities of using the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) for journal mapping have not been sufficiently recognized because of the absence of a Journal Citations Report (JCR) for this database. A quasi-JCR for the A&HCI (2008) was constructed from the data contained in the Web-of-Science and is used for the evaluation of two journals as examples: Leonardo and Art Journal. The maps on the basis of the aggregated journal-journal citations within this domain can be compared with maps including references to journals in the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index. Art journals are cited by (social) science journals more than by other art journals, but these journals draw upon one another in terms of their own references. This cultural impact in terms of being cited is not found when documents with a topic such as "digital humanities" are analyzed. This community of practice functions more as an intellectual organizer than a journal.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2009

Longitudinal Trends in Networks of University-Industry-Government Relations in South Korea: The Role of Programmatic Incentives

This study examines the longitudinal trend of systemness in networked research relations in South Korea using a triple-helix (TH) indicator of university-industry-government (UIG) relations. The data were harvested from the Science Citation Index (SCI) and its counterparts in the social sciences (SSCI) and the arts and humanities (A&HCI). The total number of Korean SCI publications has grown rapidly since 1965. However, the TH indicator shows that the network dynamics have varied considerably according to the research policies of the national government. The collaboration patterns, as measured by co-authorship relations in the SCI noticeably increased, with some variation, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. However, inter-institutional collaboration in the first decade of the 21st century was negatively influenced by the new national science and technology (S&T) research policies that evaluated domestic scientists and research groups based on their international publication numbers rather than on the level of cooperation among academic, private, and public domains. The results reveal that Korea has failed to boost its national research capacity by neglecting the network effects in science, technology, and industry.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2009

Regional innovation systems in Hungary: The failing synergy at the national level

We use entropy statistics in this paper to measure the synergies of knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, and organizational control in the Hungarian innovation system. Our data consists of high- and medium-tech firms and knowledge-intensive services categorized by sub-regions (proxy for geography), industrial sectors (proxy for technology) and firm size (proxy for organization). Configurational information along these three dimensions is used as an indicator of reduction of uncertainty or, in other words, the synergy across the knowledge functions. Our results indicate that three regimes have been created during the Hungarian transition with very different dynamics: (1) Budapest and its agglomeration emerge as a knowledge-based innovation system on every indicator; (2) the north-western part of the country, where foreign-owned companies have induced a shift in knowledge-organization; while (3) the system in the eastern and southern part of the country seems to be organized as a response to government expenditure. The national level no longer adds to the synergy across these regional innovation systems.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2009

Clusters and Maps of Science Journals Based on Bi-connected Graphs in the Journal Citation Reports

The aggregated journal-journal citation matrix derived from the Journal Citation Reports 2001 can be decomposed into a unique subject classification by using the graph-analytical algorithm of bi-connected components. This technique was recently incorporated in software tools for social network analysis. The matrix can be assessed in terms of its decomposability using articulation points which indicate overlap between the components. The articulation points of this set did not exhibit a next-order network of 'general science' journals. However, the clusters differ in size and in terms of the internal density of their relations. A full classification of the journals is provided in an Appendix. The clusters can also be extracted and mapped for the visualization.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2009

The university-industry knowledge relationship: Analyzing patents and the science base of technologies

Via the Internet, information scientists can obtain cost-free access to large databases in the hidden or deep web. These databases are often structured far more than the Internet domains themselves. The patent database of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office is used in this study to examine the science base of patents in terms of the literature references in these patents. University-based patents at the global level are compared with results when using the national economy of the Netherlands as a system of reference. Methods for accessing the on-line databases and for the visualization of the results are specified. The conclusion is that 'biotechnology' has historically generated a model for theorizing about university-industry relations that cannot easily be generalized to other sectors and disciplines.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2009

Anticipation in Social Systems: the Incursion and Communication of Meaning

In social systems, meaning can be communicated in addition to underlying processes of the information exchange. Meaning processing incurs on information processing with hindsight, while information processing recursively follows the time axis. The sole assumption of social relatedness as a variable among groups of agents provides sufficient basis for deriving the logistic map as a first-order approximation of the social system. The anticipatory formulation of this equation can be derived for both anticipation in the interaction term and in the aggregation among subgroups. Using this formula in a cellular automaton, an observer is generated as a reflection of the system under observation. The social system of interactions among observations can improve on the representations entertained by each of the observing systems.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2009

Mapping the Chinese Science Citation Database

Methods developed for mapping the journal structures contained in aggregated journal-journal citations in the Science Citation Index are applied to the Chinese Science Citation Database of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This database covers 991 journals, of which only 37 had originally English titles. Using factor-analytical and graph-analytical techniques we show that this data is dually structured. The main structure is the intellectual organization of the journals in journal groups (as in the international SCI), but the university-based journals provide an institutional layer that orients this structure towards practical ends (e.g., agriculture). The Chinese Science Citation Database exhibits the characteristics of Mode 2 in the production of scientific knowledge more than its western counterparts. The contexts of application lead to correlation (interfactorial complexity) among the components.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2009

Scientometrics and the evaluation of European integration

In this chapter, we elaborate on the topic of European integration in science. We will not deal with questions related to the effects of European integration, but only with the scientometric question how one can quantitatively indicate integration of the European science system. Our study is intended to facilitate and supplement debates rather than to provide a final answer to the questions whether European integration 'exists'. In this chapter, we first discuss the use of scientometric indicators in research evaluation from a historical perspective in (section 2). A discussion of European science policy follows (section 3). Then, we introduce a number of indicators of integration and discuss our empirical results concerning the evolution of the European science system in the 1980s and 1990s (section 4). We close the chapter with a discussion of possible avenues of future research for enhancing research evaluation (section 5).

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2009

Communication of Science Shop Mediation: A Kaleidoscope of University-Society Relations

The Science Shop model was initiated in the Netherlands in the 1970s. Part of the model is the modest scale of the operation. The crucial idea behind the Science Shops involves a working relationship between knowledge-producing institutions like universities and citizen groups that need relevant questions answered. In providing this link, the relations between science and the public can be stimulated by providing such groups with access to the university and by offering active mediation of these questions. This research addresses the question of the external visibility of Science Shop work in terms of communications which reach beyond the local context of the participants. In addition to the question of the effects of this specific type of communication in terms of publications, institutional development, and curriculum development, we study the communication of the results in the press, the popular and grey literature, and other means of communication insofar as retrievable on distance through the Internet.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

The Construction and Globalization of the Knowledge Base in Inter-human Communication Systems

The relationship between the "knowledge base" and the "globalization" of communication systems is discussed from the perspective of communication theory. I argue that inter-human communication takes place at two levels. At the first level information is exchanged and provided with meaning and at the second level meaning can reflexively be communicated. Human language can be considered as the evolutionary achievement which enables us to use these two channels of communication simultaneously. Providing meaning from the perspective of hindsight is a recursive operation: a meaning that makes a difference can be considered as knowledge. If the production of knowledge is socially organized, the perspective of hindsight can further be codified. This adds globalization to the historically stabilized patterns of communications. Globalization can be expected to transform the communications in an evolutionary mode. However, the self-organization of a knowledge-based society remains an expectation with the status of a hypothesis.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

Measuring the Knowledge Base: A Program of Innovation Studies

Organized knowledge production can then be considered as the codification of communication. Communications leave traces that can be studied as indicators. Institutions can be considered as retention mechanisms functional for the reproduction of ever more complex, that is, scientific and knowledge-based, communications. The focus on communication enables us to operationalize the research questions in terms of indicators by using the mathematical theory of communication. The combination of two theories with a very different status--i.e., a combination of theory and methods--enables us to update and inform empirical hypotheses about how the knowledge base transforms the institutional relations of an increasingly knowledge-based society. Policy implications are specified.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

The Mutual Information of University-Industry-Government Relations: An Indicator of the Triple Helix Dynamics

University-industry-government relations provide a networked infrastructure for knowledge-based innovation systems. This infrastructure organizes the dynamic fluxes locally and the knowledge base remains emergent given these conditions. Whereas the relations between the institutions can be measured as variables, the interacting fluxes generate a probabilistic entropy. The mutual information among the three institutional dimensions provides us with an indicator of this entropy. When this indicator is negative, self-organization can be expected. The self-organizing dynamic may temporarily be stabilized in the overlay of communications among the carrying agencies. The various dynamics of Triple Helix relations at the global and national levels, in different databases, and in different regions of the world, are distinguished by applying this indicator to scientometric and webometric data.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

'Interaction' versus 'action' in Luhmann's sociology of communication

Both 'actions' and 'interactions' can be considered as micro-operations that can be aggregated from a systemic perspective. Whereas actions operate historically, interactions provide the events retrospectively with meaning. Luhmann's sociology of communication systems adds to the approach of symbolic interactionism the question of what global dimensions of communication mean for local interactions. When communication is functionally differentiated--for example, in terms of media--tensions can be expected to develop between local organizations and global developments of communication structures. Interfaces enable us to translate selectively among (provisionally) stabilized representations, for example, in professional practices. 'Big science' and 'high tech' can be considered as organizational acculturations of an emerging level of sophistication in global communications. The global dimension remains a hypothesis, but entertaining this hypothesis of 'globalization' restructures the local expectations.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

A study of seismology as a dynamic, distributed area of scientific research

Seismology has several features that suggest it is a highly internationalized field: the subject matter is global, the tools used to analyse seismic waves are dependent upon information technologies, and governments are interested in funding cooperative research. We explore whether an emerging field like seismology has a more internationalised structure than the older, related field of geophysics. Using aggregated journal-journal citations, we first show that, within the citing environment, seismology emerged from within geophysics as its own field in the 1990s. The bibliographic analysis, however, does not show that seismology is more internationalised than geophysics: in 2000, seismology had a lower percentage of all articles co-authored on an international basis. Nevertheless, social network analysis shows that the core group of cooperating countries within seismology is proportionately larger and more distributed than that within geophysics. While the latter exhibits an established network with a hierarchy, the formation of a field in terms of new partnership relations is ongoing in seismology.

cs.DL↗